Breast Ultrasound is another way to examine the breast. Your physician may
order a breast ultrasound for reasons that include the following:

·Breast Ultrasound is performed to better characterize a solid area
seen on mammogram in more detail and may eliminate unnecessary biopsies by
distinguishing malignant from benign (non-cancerous) lesions such as a lymph
node.

·Ultrasound also distinguishes a simple fluid-filled cyst from a
solid lesion suspected on mammogram.

While they’re looking for possible cancer,
your doctors may also come across masses or structures in the breast that
deserve further investigation, including:

·Calcifications: Calcifications
are tiny flecks of calcium — like grains of salt — in the soft tissue of the
breast that can sometimes indicate the presence of an early breast cancer.
Calcifications usually can't be felt, but they appear on a mammogram. Depending
on how they're clustered and their shape, size, and number, your doctor may want
to do further tests.

Big calcifications — "macrocalcifications" — are usually not associated with
cancer. Groups of small calcifications huddled together, called "clusters of
microcalcifications," or “grouped microcalcifications” are associated with extra
breast cell activity. Most of the times this is non-cancerous extra cell growth,
but sometimes clusters of microcalcifications can occur in areas of early
cancer.

·Cysts: Unlike
cancerous tumors, which are solid, cysts are
fluid-filled masses in the breast. Cysts are very common and are rarely
associated with cancer. A follow-up ultrasound is the best way to tell a cyst
from a cancer, because sound waves pass right through a liquid-filled cyst.
Solid lumps, on the other hand, bounce the waves right back.

·Fibroadenomas: Fibroadenomas
are movable, solid, rounded lumps made up of normal breast cells. While not
cancerous, these lumps may grow. And any solid lump that's getting bigger is
usually removed to make sure that it's not a cancer. Fibroadenomas are the most
common kind of breast masses, especially in young women. For more about a
fibroadenoma, Click Here